Rochester Adams High's 'Mr. Shaltz' is already missed

Beloved teacher and coach, 51, died suddenly Monday morning

Memorials are underway for Steve Shaltz, a longtime Rochester Adams High School teacher and coach who died suddenly Monday morning.

Funeral services for Shaltz, 51, were held Thursday evening at the Henry M. Malburg funeral home in Romeo.

Earlier Thursday, the Macomb County Medical Examiner released Shaltz's cause of death as an acute gastrointestinal hemorrhage, due to a ruptured blood vessel linked to liver damage.

Shaltz was beloved as a teacher of Philosophy and AP History, and as an assistant coach of the Adams High wrestling team. In 2007, he was inducted into the National Honor Roll's Outstanding American Teachers.

"As a coach he helped me keep my confidence when I was at my weakest," wrote one student on the site. "As a teacher he taught me to question life and to look for answers in difficult places. As a friend he taught me how to be more respectful of others."